Guardian writers' prediction: 11th (NB: this is not necessarily Paul's prediction, but the average of our writers' tips)

Last season's position: 11th

Odds to win the league: 1,000-1

Stoke may just be the Premier League's most fearsome club. A wind-swept stadium whose inhabitants defy its structure to generate the most intimidating din in the land, burly players who challenge and charge relentlessly, and a clear-headed manager who refuses to apologise for his no-frills approach and might not be prissy enough to rule out an admonitory bout of naked headbutting if the situation demanded it.

All involved with Stoke deserve acclaim for making their club so feared so soon after ending a 25-year absence from the top flight. One negative side-effect from the way they have achieved this is that it is not only opponents who fear the Potters: transfer targets seem wary, too. Especially forwards.

Only Aston Villa used as few players as Tony Pulis did last season and the manager, who has a hefty sum to spend, is eager to equip himself with more options, declaring he wants two new strikers.

He has made offers for Nice's Loïc Rémy and West Ham's Carlton Cole, and been linked with a slew of others, but so far no one has succumbed. It is easy to deduce that although Stoke are now an established Premier League force, they are not viewed as a club where forwards can enhance their careers – at least not forwards of the calibre they seek.

It is easy to see why: attackers have to work extremely hard there for relatively little reward – Stoke created fewer shooting opportunities than any other side in the league last season, averaged less possession per game than anyone else (39.6%) and completed fewer passes. Their forwards tend to spend a large amount of their time chasing and closing down and, as a consequence, find themselves under inordinate pressure to take any opportunities that do eventually come their way.

James Beattie and Dave Kitson do not appear to have been able to cope with that and have become disgruntled while Ricardo Fuller, although sometimes brilliant and always willing, has not been able to consistently rise to the challenge either: his shots-to-goals ratio of 5.6% last season was the lowest of any forward in the league. Tuncay Sanli is a classy and energetic player who does not find himself in front of goal as often as he would wish and, perhaps as a result, is being linked with a move. Mamady Sidibe tries hard.

The best way to attract a top-notch striker may be firstly to demonstrate an intent to evolve by bringing in a couple of midfielders to free the forwards. Unless Liam Lawrence stays and rediscovers his best form, then a right-sided player who can replicate the runs and crosses that Matthew Etherington provides from the left would be welcome.

Similarly, a tad more creativity and penetration could be introduced to central midfield where Glenn Whelan, Dean Whitehead, Salif Diao and Rory Delap can all be relied on to do fundamentals diligently but do not quite have the ingenuity to inspire Stoke into the top half of the table.

Unless Pulis can lure upgrades before the transfer window closes (and despite the above concerns we should not exclude that possibility because he has always been a crafty operator in the market) there seems little hope of Stoke making a great leap forward.

Nor, however, does there seem any likelihood of them significantly regressing. Despite debaggings at Chelsea and Manchester United towards the end of last season, Stoke should remain a generally well-organised, highly driven unit who will not concede ground lightly.

With Ryan Shawcross fully fit again and Robert Huth or Danny Collins at hand to partner him if Abdoulaye Faye fails to recover from the uncharacteristic loss of form and/or motivation that afflicted him towards the end of last season, the core of their defence will be solid.

The full-back areas are also well-staffed – either Huth, Collins or Andy Wilkinson on the right and Danny Higginbotham on the left – and the highly promising Asmir Begovic may be ready to offer even greater reliability in goal than Thomas Sorensen, who has been a stalwart for the club but is starting to betray signs of decline. Only four teams – Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa – kept more clean sheets than them last term and there is no reason why opponents should get any more joy out of them this time round.